alexvilla4

I think definite comparison in terms of one-footedness but I think they are both very different players. I thought when we were getting Traore that we were getting a very direct winger similar to Robben but he is almost like another wide playmaker like Grealish in that he tries through balls often and cuts in and switches the play. Anyway whatever kind of player he is I really like him!

I agree he was very good at the start of the season. The only thing letting him down was sticking the ball in the net. In terms of his overall game I was really impressed with him at the start of the season, and why Traore barely played when he first joined

If Dean wants to keep playing 4231 then we will definitely need to purchase an AMC in the summer which is quite exciting. A few thoughts on some options below: Top level talent: Julian Brandt - Can play through the midfield or out wide. Only 24. Wages aren't huge. Style of play I think would fit in really well as he is a good dribbler, works hard and can play through balls. Doesnt score too many though. Dele Alli - Very talented player. Good in the box. Would link up well with Jack and Ollie. Played best at Spurs as a second striker. Used to playing pressing football. However hasn't been at the races for a couple of seasons and question marks over his general attitude. Could be a good option though. Julian Draxler - PSG attacking midfielder who has good pedigree and lots of ability. On big wages but would fancy a move to the prem to get first team football Premier League ready: Ross Barkley - on loan at us currently. Lots of ability and links well with Jack. Big question marks over fitness and work ethic. A good option at the right price Jesse Lingard - did us over the other week with a very good game. Could be a good signing at the right price. Question marks over his attitude and work ethic also Eberechi Ebe - looks a very talented player and is having a good debut season in the prem. Would slot in well in the number 10 position. Palace unlikely to want to sell though unless they go down Emile Smith Rowe - one of Arsenal's brightest prospects. Unlikely to sell him to us unless maybe we get into Europe and they dont, or if say they change manager and he cant get into Arsenals team because new manager doesnt like him Young prospects: Michael Olise - very talented youngster having a good season at Reading. A lot of clubs interested in him. One we might regret missing out on like Eze. Charles de Ketalaere - talented young Belgian who can play a number of positions. Seems to suit a number 10 type, and can also play out on the left. Hard worker, tall and physical as well as great ball skills. Could be another top player to come out of Belgium Martin Odegaard - currently on loan at Arsenal. Doesnt seem to fit in at Madrid. Very talented youngster Best of the Championship: Harry Wilson - a lot of ability but a bit lightweight. Great set piece taker which we need. Nice striker of a ball from outside the box. Wouldn't cost a lot in the summer Emi Buendia - seems to play more on the right but could play a number 10 position. Great through balls and hard worker. Likely to cost a lot unless Norwich dont go up David Brooks - again more suited to the right but can play through the middle. Played well in the prem previously. Bournemouth likely to want a lot of money Todd Cantwell - seems to be more suited out wide then through the middle, but a nice ball carrier and a stylish player. Likely to cost a lot unless Norwich go up Personally my top 3 targets would be Brandt, Olise or Charles de ketalaere. Although I probably would be satisfied with Barkley if the price is right with Ramsey as his backup

I would rather spend the Barkley money on Anguissa from Fulham. Looks a class box to box player that loves dribbling, tacking and has good physicality

First few games for us he looked like he should be back in the England squad. Now the difference between his performances and Maddisons are huge, Maddison must be way ahead of him now, let alone Foden, Mount and Grealish. He could be turning into a bit of a Dele Alli or a Lingard (barring tonight's performance). A flashy player but high wages and something just not quite right

It might have been mentioned before but the way we are playing Wesley would be more suited to come in for Barkley rather than Watkins. He seems to like dropping off to be the link man rather than getting into the box and pressing the centre backs and I think he could provide a good option to win the ball I'm the air and feed Watkins, Grealish or Traore. If that's the case then I still think we need another number 9 type striker like Watkins that has pace and is a high pressing style striker.

2-1 up last night was the big mistake tactically from Smith last night. At that point Traore and Barkley have to come off. Trez then comes on and sures things up on the right side to deal with McNeil and either Engles comes on as a third centre back to help with the aerial bombardment or Nakamba comes on to help us win the midfield back and control the game from there

I would much prefer Angelino off Man City than Zinchenko

Over the next window or two I would be happy with: Nakamba out - Choudhury in Lansbury out - Will Hughes in El Ghazi out - Rashica in Engles out - Victor Nelsson in Taylor out - Angelino in

I think Luiz is a very classy player, and being the deepest midfielder in a possession oriented team is his best position. For us he will have good games and bad games as we arent always great as a team at keeping the ball moving in the opponents half. If Man City did buy him back who would you want and who do you think we could afford? Assuming Smith would want another tidy ball player type player a few options below as starters. If we have a great season and qualify for Europe: Kalvin Phillips- very highly rated and does seem to have lots of ability. Doubt he would come though Declan Rice - I would like this one to happen as I think he would fit in well with the team and he would want to come, but I think we would be priced out of it Tyler Adams - Leipziz young American midfielder with lots of potential. Would love him here Jorginho - very doubtful one, but he doesn't seem to be a consistent first choice at Chslsea and we could have funds available and would be an ambitious target If we finish mid table ish: Marko Grujic - out of favour at Liverpool but looks a decent player whenever i have seen him and had a good season in Germany Papy Mendy - Playing very well at Leicester at the mo, but doubtful he would keep his place when Ndidi is back fit so could be tempted Sander Berge - Sheff Utd are struggling and may go down. If so then whilst he hasn't been very impressive yet this chap was very highly rated and would have experience of the prem Ethan Ampadu - not sure if his best position is CB or in midfield but he has been touted as a great defensive midfielder and could be available if Chelsea decide to sell Mohamed Elneny - a decent player at Arsenal with prem experience. Not really good enough for them but could be a good player for us Billy Gilmour - Like Ampadu unlikely Chelsea would want to sell but could be persuaded with the guarantee of first team football, playing alongside his international teammate and if the price is right If we stay up by skin of teeth again: Nathaniel Chalobah - Terry knows him well and could be a good option John Lundstram - could be available on a free transfer and was very good last year for Sheff Utd Lewis Cook - had a lot of injuries at Bournemouth but has always looked a classy ball player Will Hughes - Another Watford player that could be available and would be a decent player Joe Allen - only 30 still with bags of experience and suits a deep midfielder position Obviously hope Luiz stays with us a long time but thought it might be interesting to consider a few options. What do you think? And anyone else you think may be a good buy? I know we have been linked with a few players from the French league recently

I would really like to have Buendia in front of Cash on the right. Buendia is a very intelligent player, is a great passer and hard worker and having Cash overlapping and underlapping would add another dimension to our attack and stop us playing it down the left side so much

Jamie Vardy. Do not like that man

Hickey also follows Bologna, Bayern, Liverpool and Crystal Palace on Instagram

As well as recruitment I hope he can also do the performance analysis and sports medicine bit well. I still feel that we are way behind other clubs in this area and there is lots of scope for improvement

I want him to be like Antonio for West Ham. Antonio has played most of his career as a right winger as far as I'm aware, yet he has been putting in some great performances up front and scoring goals with his head and feet through good positioning. I think a year in the Championship where he is fit and is 2nd choice striker would do him the world of good

Not sure where it would be best to post this, but I am just so frustrated at how much has gone wrong this year and some of the errors that the club have made. I know it was difficult as we came up through the playoffs and had to get a new squad basically but it seems we have done so much wrong: Summer Recruitment Left criminally short up front - Wesley, Davis and Kodjia was never going to cut it. Kodjia should have been sold and Davis should have been 4th choice with his injury problems and lack of games Not signing Cahill - he would have made such a massive difference to our backline and whole team in general. He has played in loads of games for Palace, is the leader that we needed and is still a top quality defender. Most of the season we have been defending so deep that Cahill would have been absolutely ideal. A 2 year deal would have been perfect and if we had spent that money on him rather than the money on Engles we would be so much better off Luiz on deadline day - he looks like a great signing now, however has it been worth it? Before lockdown he has added very little to our team, partly due to him arriving so late in the window and needing him to adapt. That money could have been used better in my opinion Overpaid on Targett - not a terrible player, however Southampton have had our pants down. We knew LB was a problem when we were in the championship, it's a shame we didn't have other cheaper options identified that would have added more Squad fillers - Trez, Jota and Nakamba have been very poor and added little over the season. Engles I liked the look of and have no idea what has happened to him but that now looks like a poor signing. Hause has done fine as a squad filler, however he is not good enough to be the regular starter he has pretty much been since Jan Coaching Can we say that any players have improved this season? Luiz since lockdown has been very good, Konsa looks better at RB, Grealish was very good pre lockdown, and Nyland looked better pre lockdown, other than that I am really disappointed with the lack of improvement in players. Mings and Guilbert definitely got worse as the season has gone on and so many inconsistent performances from El Ghazi, Targett, Hourihane, Luiz. Consistently poor performances from Nakamba and Trez Why can't we defend or attack set pieces? WHAT DOES TERRY DO? Medical Yes we couldn't help Heaton and Wesley injuries, however I definitely have some questions which need answering: Why have we had so many muscle injuries? Why have Trez and Guilbert got slower? Why has McGinn come back in such poor condition when he was supposed to be ready in March? Why are Targett and El Ghazi so powder puff? Why is Lansbury still on our books when he is never fit? Why did we put Mings back on when he had a hamstring injury? Why do we look so slow and lethargic pretty much every week for 90 mins? Tactics Why has Smith not set up the team how he wants them to? I'm sure Smith does put in a lot of preparation time however it is very rare that this is then shown on the pitch. The only real tactical innovations I have seen that have both made us look quite good and nullify the opposition are the Burnley away result and then the Leicester results in the cup. Other than that we have looked quite tactically inept most weeks Whilst options on the bench are limited Smith has very rarely made a substitution which has impacted the game favourably for us. Mentality Where has our resilience gone? I think the lack of experienced leaders in the squad has made a big difference. Bar Heaton and Mings we dont have any natural leaders anymore that will make their voices heard and not accept substandard performances. And I think it's true that our team does also reflect the manager that we are too nice Rant over. Its disappointing how much we have got wrong and I really want to believe in Smith and the project we have got, but I think we have still been operating as a small club and are a long way off premier league standard

Shame we didn't go in for Tariq Lamtey in Jan. Brighton got a steal at 4m as he wanted to leave Chelsea and get first team football. He looks excellent going forwards with loads of pace and can put in a tackle as well. Also marks very tightly which none of our current full backs do Him and Guilbert would have been 2 good options for the next few years

Two midfielders I would like in the summer are Anguissa - having a great season in the spanish league and is exactly the mobility we need in the middle to get up and down, and looks decent going forwards and back. Estimated £25m Marko Grujic - had 2 good seasons on loan at Hertha Berlin I think. Looks strong and good passer. Whilst he probably wants to stay at Liverpool he wont displace Fabinho and they have a lot of midfielders. Estimated £15m They would provide us with a lot more strength and mobility in the middle and can both tackle and have good technique. The midfield 3 then next year would be: Advance midfielder: McGinn (Hourihane) Box to box: Anguissa (Marv) DLP: Grujic (Luiz) This would also take a bit of pressure off Marv and Luiz and provide some real competition in the middle

If we stay up I would like us to go for Aaron Hickey from Hearts. 18yr old attacking left back who is good with both feet and would provide decent competition for Targett and could well be better than him in a season or two and his value would massively increase. He has been linked with a lot of big clubs and I think we could get him as he is likely to play a lot more football here, and McGinn could have a word in his ear!

It looks like Ashley Maitland Niles will be available in the summer. I imagine he wouldn't be too expensive, probably in the £10-15m bracket and could be a decent option for us. Young, English pacey versatile player that has good technique and has already played quite a lot of premier league games in midfield and defence, but not quite good enough to start regularly for Arsenal. I think he would be a very good addition to our squad

If Villa are to resume in Smith's preferred 433 formation I think Davis could prove to be useful in the AML position. My thinking behind this is: He would provide another out ball for the defenders when they need to clear it under pressure. And Davis is very good at holding it up so it wouldn't keep coming back He could provide flick ons for Samatta to run onto When El Ghazi has the ball on the right wing having Davis come in at the far post would provide a big aerial threat He could help us defensively at set pieces He would be able to out muscle most right backs and give them a torrid time preventing quite a few attacks down that side Whilst he isn't a pacey winger his all round football skills are pretty good and I think he could do a decent job in that position It would allow Grealish to come back into the middle 3 next to McGinn He could hold the ball up long enough to allow Targett to bomb on past him, or for Grealish to provide an option in the middle He would add more physicality to our team which is something that is desperately lacking

How highly do you rate Tom Heaton in terms of prem keepers? I think a lot of Heaton and he is definitely the man we need between the sticks, but I also think the quality of prem keepers has been pretty high this year also. I think better than him in the prem (in no order) is currently: Alisson Ederson De Gea Dubravka Pope Henderson Leno Rui Patricio Schmeichel I would probably put him similar to Fabianski, Lloris, Kepa, Foster and better than Pickford, Ramsdale, Ryan, Krul, McCarthy

Heaton Konsa Engles Mings Guilbert Nakamba McGinn Targett El Ghazi Grealish Samatta

I would love us to go in for four players: Smalling Tuanzebe Castagne Buendia Line up in a high pressing 3-4-2-1 and play the game in the oppositions half with our wings backs pushed up, Tuanzebe in the middle of a 3 so he can come out of defence to support the midfield. Mings and Smalling being solid at the back. Heaton Smalling Tuanzebe Mings Castagne McGinn Nakamba Targett Buendia Grealish Samatta Subs: Nyland, Konsa, Guilbert, Luiz, El Ghazi, Trez, Wesley Sold: Jota, Taylor, Elmo, Lansbury

Would love it this summer if Terry left and we got both Laursen and Mellberg in to support Smith. I know being a great player doesn't necessarily make a great coach but I've just got a feeling getting those two back into the villa set up would be immense